Darkwater Ambush
by reikat
Summary: Ulfric Stormcloak and his small band of soldiers are ambushed in Darkwater Crossing by the Imperial Legion. Caught up with them are a horse thief and a nameless traveler, a woman who Ulfric senses is not what she seems. One-shot. COMPLETE


_Author's Note: Takes place before_ _ **Attack on Helgen**_ _and intersects with_ _ **Destiny's Pull**_ _chapter 3. Also since Eriah was out for two full days before the opening of Skyrim, I'm going to go under the impression that the reason she was out so long was because her latent dragon soul was starting to awaken as the chosen day (Alduin's return) got closer._

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14th of Second Seed, 4E 201

Ulfric Stormcloak was leading a small group of soldiers to Darkwater Crossing. He had received a distress call in Windhelm from the settlement asking for aid against the Imperials who had somehow managed to pass into his borders. So against the wishes of Galmar Stone-Fist, his most loyal lieutenant, Ulfric personally led the small group with him to Darkwater. The distance between the two locations wasn't much concern for him but even he was starting to have some suspicions about the whole thing. Darkwater Crossing was a small mining settlement. There wasn't much there for the Imperials to make use of. Still, he was duty-bound to investigate the matter. It was late at night on the 14th of Second Seed when the Stormcloaks arrived. Ulfric motioned for them to fan out and to be careful. They heard a distant horse approaching and the rebels hid in the shadows.

The clouds uncovered the moon and Ulfric was surprised to see a young woman approaching the settlement. However, it seemed her horse sensed something was wrong and refused to come closer. From his location, Ulfric could tell the woman was a Nord from Cyrodiil, judging from her clothing. She was young, too. A mere thirty to his fifty. She drew a sword and led the horse closer. Just from her bearing, Ulfric could tell she was well-trained. That sword wasn't for show. She knew her way around it. There was also something...strange about her. The way she carried herself seemed to exude something that was almost noble and yet, dangerous. Something inhuman. What was she doing here in Skyrim and why? Was she an Imperial spy, a rogue, or a mere traveler as her clothes suggested? Ulfric found his intrigue growing but suddenly, the rustling of bushes caught his attention and he saw a figure diving deeper into the woods.

Just like that, he and his men were beset by Imperial troops. _"It was a trap."_ he thought, grimly as he pulled his sword out and parried a blow. He spared a quick look to see what the nameless traveler was doing and saw she was engaged in battle herself. Since it was plain she was innocent of any Imperial involvement, his spirit sank knowing he was responsible for her getting caught up in this. He couldn't spare much thought to her as he continued to fend off his attackers. His battle carried him past the woman who had won her own bout and he ended up back to back with Ralof, an earnest man from Riverwood. He and the other survivors were corralled together as the Imperial contingent closed in around them. "Cease and desist, Stormcloaks! Or your friend dies!" came the order. Ulfric looked behind him to see that the traveler had been knocked out cold somehow. "She's not with us." one of his own troops said. "Likely story. By order of General Tulius, you're under arrest, Ulfric Stormcloak. Lay down your arms and no more blood will be spilled this night." said the Imperial captain.

Ulfric scowled before his eyes slid to the traveler. A couple soldiers were flanking her unconscious body. In the torchlight, he could tell one of them was leering at her, making it painfully obvious where his mind was. The Jarl growled before dropping his sword and motioned for his soldiers to do the same. "We surrender." he spat. He then shot a glare at the soldiers near the traveler. "You can trust me when I say she's not one of mine but do anything untoward to her, and I'll break your necks. I'll not have her death nor her defilement by the pigs among you be on my conscience." he warned. Despite being in control of the situation, the Imperials involuntarily shuddered. They knew he had use of the Voice and didn't want to meet the same fate as Torygg. "Sir, we caught this lout trying to make off with one of our horses." came the voice of a Nord legionnaire. Ralof spat when he saw it was his ex-friend, Hadvar, who tossed a man who was clearly a lowly thief into the circle of light. "We'll bring him, too. See how he likes Imperial whips for trying to pinch one of our horses. Hadvar, you and Corrine take that woman there into the house and take anything of value off her. Even her clothes." the Captain ordered.

Ulfric watched as the unconscious woman was hauled to her feet and dragged to the house. When she was out of sight, he turned his attention to the Captain. "Get these rebels in chains and loaded into the wagon. Gag Stormcloak. Wouldn't want him using that unnatural power of his. We leave when Hadvar and Corrine have the other prisoner ready." he ordered. Though some of his men tried to resist, Ulfric just calmly allowed the irons to be slapped on and to be gagged. He and Galmar had considered the possibility of a trap and worked out a contingency in case things went south. Doubtless, Tullius was behind this ambush and would see him extradited to Cyrodiil for trial. So he had Galmar set up a rescue party near the gap in the Jerall Mountains to intercept them, since it was the easiest and quickest way to leave Skyrim from the south. He wasn't worried at all. This was a minor setback, one he intended to make the Empire pay for. He, Ralof, and the horse thief were led to a wagon as the door to the house opened. Hadvar and Corrine dragged the still unconscious traveler out between them. Her Cryodillic clothing was replaced by threadbare rags, not unlike the thief. "Put her on the wagon with the Jarl. We don't have all night." the Captain ordered. The legionnaires did as ordered and the woman was loaded on first. Ralof was on next and the movement of the wagon nearly caused her to fall backwards out.

Ralof managed to steady her and, once he was sure she was okay, sat down. The would-be thief was on next and Ulfric was on last. The Captain ordered for the caravan to move out, saying that they would return to bury the dead later. With that, a steady pace was set. Ralof kept his eyes on the nameless prisoner, clearly concerned. He caught Ulfric's eye and the Jarl merely nodded, a sign that he should keep an eye on her. As the caravan moved on, Ulfric just kept himself calm by meditating just as his former masters, the Greybeards, taught him. While he had some regret that he left High Hrothgar to fight in the Great War thirty years ago, Ulfric knew he had done right by his people by doing so and not going back. He knew his former masters were disappointed in him but the Jarl had a feeling that he was meant for something better than to sit in the monastery for the rest of his days meditating on the Thu'um. He looked over at the woman next to him as her head gently swung from side to side and wondered if he was the only one getting this strange feeling there was more to her than met the eye. Someone like Ralof would just see a Nordic woman seated there but Ulfric's limited training in the Thu'um made his perception a bit sharper than the average man. There was an undercurrent of power in the woman's body that he could sense and it puzzled him. Despite her obvious training in the sword at least, it was plain she was no warrior. At least, not one with experience.

There was also his curious compulsion to aid her back in Darkwater. While he certainly wouldn't have thrown her to the proverbial wolves as far as her honor went, Ulfric wouldn't have stuck his neck out as far as he did for someone he didn't know or trust. And Ulfric didn't trust easily nor was his respect given lightly. He could thank Markarth for that. He had given his trust to a fellow Jarl and helped him take back the city from the Forsworn, only to get stabbed in the back later when the Empire got involved. The men and women under him shared his vision of a Skyrim free of the Empire and of a people free to worship Talos openly but they still had to earn his favor through the various battles and missions. No matter how he tried to puzzle it out, the bottom line was Ulfric had threatened the Imperials (and the salacious pigs among them) that anything done to her would be met with aggression on his part. He just couldn't understand why she was any different than any other person he had come across in his fifty years. What was it about her that compelled him to go beyond his usual patterns of dealing people? If and when they were rescued, Ulfric intended on taking the traveler back to Windhelm to do some investigating of his own. The rather unnatural, yet subconscious, effect she had of compelling him to act against his own nature was something he couldn't ignore and he had to assess her threat level. With that plan in mind, the Jarl just decided to wait out this carriage ride and they'd reach the gap soon enough. Then it would be on Galmar and his band to get them out of this situation.

17th of Second Seed, 4E 201

Whatever hope Ulfric had of rescue in the Gap of Jerall was dashed when the caravan continued west instead of turning south when they reached the fork in the road on the 15th of Last Seed and instead passed from the Rift into Falkreath Hold. Neither he nor Galmar had foreseen the Imperials doing anything else than extradite him and his cohorts to the Imperial City in the event Darkwater Crossing went south. For one of the rare times in his life, Ulfric felt despair and despondency take hold. With no way of getting a message to his lieutenant and Galmar having no idea where he was, the Stormcloaks were in a huge bind. The nameless traveler was still unconscious and even Ralof was starting to grow concerned. A knock on the head would be enough to put someone out for a day but two days was rare enough that it was almost unheard of. Ulfric had briefly wondered if she had died somewhere along the way but close observation showed she still lived. For reasons unexplained, she just remained oblivious to the world.

Ulfric had a vague idea where the caravan was taking them but he couldn't know for sure why or what the Legion's plan was. Helgen was a small fortress town controlled by the Legion. Because he was still gagged, he considered it something of a blessing that his companions probably had no real idea either. As the sun finally rose into the sky, that's when the woman beside him finally started to stir. Despite being mired in his own thoughts and worries, he spared a quiet sigh of relief that she had pulled through. Like before, he had no idea why. For someone who shouldn't have been there, she was surprisingly calm about the whole situation. She was confused, naturally, but she didn't stir up any sort of fuss. He listened as Ralof addressed her and she finally spoke back. Her Cyrodillic accent made it all the more clear where she came from but her voice had the same edge as anyone Skyrim-born. He ventured a guess that perhaps she wasn't native to the Empire and had only lived there for a time.

Not like his questions could be or would be answered since he was both gagged and didn't know what was going to happen in the short time before they reached Helgen or wherever they were being taken, if not there. So he contented himself to listen but when she looked at him, he felt that unnatural compulsion to look back. That's when he saw it. Her brown eyes were the same as those of his former mentors. There was an undercurrent of power he imagined she didn't know about. While his wariness of her skyrocketed, he also felt a strange sense of courage fill him in equal measure. _"Whoever this woman is, she has a power I've known only the Greybeards to possess."_ he thought. He broke contact first. He heard the thief inquire about why he was gagged and his identity was revealed to him and the woman by Ralof. Even without looking at them, he could tell they both knew who he was. The woman obviously didn't know why he alone was gagged but the thief probably did.

After a short time, they finally reached Helgen. As they passed through the gate, Ulfric felt the woman's anxiety spike. It was plain as day to him what the Legion's plan was. Out of reach of his Stormcloaks, Ulfric knew that he was going to be killed in relative secrecy to avoid martyrdom. He decided if that was so, then let it be so. His soldiers would still carry on the fight. For now, he turned his thoughts to the only two non-Stormcloaks in their company. The thief deserved whatever he had coming but the woman...the woman was innocent of any wrongdoing. She was a victim of circumstance and, against his own feelings regarding them, he prayed to Talos that the Legion would show mercy and turn her loose. Somehow, it seemed a vain hope. The Empire was determined to stamp him out and the rebellion along with him. She would die here.


End file.
